New product foils copper thieves

A product aimed at protecting the copper coils on air conditioning units has been released by a Dallas-Fort Worth firm. Called the CopperWatcher, the device triggers a home or commercial building’s existing alarm system when copper thieves shut down the AC’s high voltage power in order to disconnect the unit’s condenser tubing.

CopperWatch can distinguish between power outages and deliberate shutdowns and also has a battery back-up system. The device also triggers security alarms when thieves cut a refrigerant unit’s copper line.